Marine life-saving jacket.



G. M. BUDDY & W. CARROLL.

MARINE LIFE SAVING JACKET.

wPucAnoN FILED JUNE 4. 913.

1,162,214. 4 Patented Nov. 30, 1915.

GEORGE MARLETT B ODDY AND WILLIAM CA '1 O BQDDY LIFESAVING APPLIANCES (1 RROLL, OF LONDON, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR-S 914) LIMITED, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

MARINE LIFE-SAVING JACKET.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 30, 1915.

Application filed June 4, 1918. Serial No. 771,654.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, GEORGE MARLETT Booor, residing at 8'Leadenhall street, London, England, and WILLIAM CARROLL, residing at ltBoXley road, West Silvertown, London, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Marine Life-Saving Jackets; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,- and exa'ct description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled inthe art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to jackets ,or garments for the purpose of buoying persons in the water, in the case of shipwreck and so forth, of the kind which comprises a series, of vertical buoyant compartments disposed around the body part in combination with buoyant means at the upper part ofthe back in the form of a cushion or pillow adapted to support the head of the person wearing same. It was found, however, that although the tendency of the jacket was to prevent the head being immersed reafwardly, in the case of an injured or unconscious person it was possible for the head to fall forward upon the chest in a dangerous position, and the object of the present invention is to so improve the jacket-that this anger is obviated.

According to the present invention the body portion of the jacket at back and front is provided with buoyant compartments the buoyant power of which is so proportioned as to automatically tend to cause an inert or unconscious person to assume a reclining position with the head supported upon the the before-mentioned rear cushion or pillow with the face well above the surface of the water while permitting wearers in normal condition to assume any other position they may desire, such as in swimming, etc. Further, the arrangement of the said buoyant compartments is such that even should an inert or unconscious-person be supported in a more or less vertical position, owing to the wearing of heavy boots, or from other causes the head would be prevented from falling forward with the face immersed or unduly adjacent to the surface of the water.

The jacket may be provided with pockets in the known manner and also when the jacket is provided with sleeves the extremities of same may be provided with buoyant compartments.

The accompanying drawings illustrate some examples of jackets made in accordance with the invention, in which Figures 1 and 2 are respectively a front elevation and side elevation of one form. Fig. 3 is a similar view to Fig. 1 of a modified construction.

Referring first to Figs. 1 and 2, a is the jacket proper formed of suitable material and provided at the front withbutton fastenings .b, and with a suitable belt 0 encircling the jacket about mid-way of its length, the. said belt being provided with a buckle fastening c. d is the already described rear cushion for supporting the wearers head at the back. e e and f f are compartments on the front of the jacket adapted to be filled with the desired buoyant material, preferably kapoc, the compartments e 6 being continued or extended close up to the neck and to the upper part of the shoulders. At the back of the jacket below the said cushion d but above the encircling band 0 is disposed another compartment 9 filled with buoyant material. The compartment or buoyant cushion g is arranged at the middle of the back over the spine, between the waist line and the pillow d, and it is relatively small as compared with the pillow (Z. The pillow d extends across the shoulders with its top and ends adjacent to the neck and arm openings where the collar and sleeves are joined to the jacket body. This pillow has enlargements a: at its end portions which project above the top of the shoulders on each side of the neck opening. This cushion is indented at the middle part of its top, so that it does not project behind the back of the head of the wearer. The enlargementsm and the cushion g are arranged substantially at the angles of an equilateral. triangle, and they support the body in a reclining position, and prevent it from tilting and the head from twisting around so that the mouth gets below water as the body is, rocked by the waves, and at the same time they do not prevent the wearer from swimming if he is conscious.

When the improved jacket is provided with sleeves, as indicated at h in the figures, the extremities thereof may also be fitted with buoyant compartments such as i to support the arms at the surface of the water and the wrist portions of the said sleeves may have straps 3' whereby the sleeves may be drawn tightly around the wrists.

For the purpose of insuring the jacket being maintained in proper position upon the wearer, straps is k may be secured at the lower part toward the back adapted to be passed between the wearers legs and secured in front by the buckles la, and the lower edge of the jacket is also provided with a draw-string t for drawing same tightly around the wearer.

The front upper buoyant compartments are each packed with about 5 ounces of kapoc, while the lower compartments 7 each contain about 5% ounces of kapoc, giving a total of about 21 ounces at the front -of the jacket. The rear cushion d and the smaller compartment 9 contain respectively about 6 ounces and 5 ounces.

Z Z are pockets on the breast portion adapted to hold nourishment or for other purposes.

It will thus be seen that in the case of an unconscious or helpless person the rear cushion will support the head and shoulders while the front compartments, owing td their greater buoyancy will automatically cause the wearer to assume a reclining position, no matter in what position he originally enters the water. This action of the buoyant compartments, however, does not preclude the wearer from assuming other positions or from the free use of his limbs,

such for example, as swimming or rowing,

and further, the jacket is only made of sufficient length as will easily permit of the wearer sitting down. I

Fig. 3 shows a cheaper form of the improved jacket. In this case, for the belt a pair of tapes m m secured at the sides of the body of the jacket by sewing or otherwise are substituted and the upper front buoyant compartments 6 e do not extend so high as in the first described construction, whereby a space is left between same and the neck part. Within this space, another pair of tapes or n are disposed secured toward each side of the body of the jacket so as to allow of the jacket being adjusted to persons of varying bulk. In this form no sleeves are provided.

It will of course be "understood that the improved jacket may be made in varying sizes to suit both adults and children.

It will be obvious that the improved jacket may take other forms than those described, for instance, the body part could be in the form of a smock having no front opening but made in two parts,-one back and one front, secured together at the upper part, the side edges being fastened together by tapes or the like.

In another case of a cheaper form the improved jacket may be simply in the form of front and back buoyant members the top edges of which are secured together by shoulder straps or the like, while the two said members are secured around the body of the wearer by tapes or the like. In this form one size of jacket is capable of being used for either adults or children as the jacket can be drawn around the wearer to the desired extent by means of the securing tapes before being finally tied.

Having now fully described and ascertained our said invention and the manner in which it to be used, we declare that what we claim is 1. A life-saving jacket provided with a buoyant pillow rigidly secured to and extending across the shoulders portion of the jacket with its top and ends arranged adjacent to the neck and arm openings, said pillow having enlargements at its end portions which project upwardly above the shoulders of the jacket and being indented at its middle parts so that it does not project upwardly behind the head of the wearer.

2. A life-saving jacket provided with a buoyant pillow rigidly secured to and extending across the shoulders portion of the jacket with its top and ends arranged ad- GEORGE MARLETT BODDY. WILLIAM CARROLL.

Witnesses:

ALBERT WILLIAM WINSALL, ROLAND TURNER. 

